'Having my bond with my mate broken for the second time pushed the pain over the edge.' When you don't get the chance to heal the first time something is done to you, how do you get through it the second time? Told in Dylan's POV.

A/N: So I was watching the Gates episode 'Dog Eat Dog' earlier today, and that got me in a story writing mood. I had been thinking for awhile about another possible reason for why Dylan was so upset about his bond with Claire being broken. Not that I didn't know why he was upset about it, I just thought it might be a little more interesting if there was more than the obvious reasons. So that's why I have this. Please review if you read. Any type is accepted, though flames are not appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters (except the one not from the show) that are mentioned in the story. I do not own the Gates, though if I did, we would have a definite season 2 starting on Monday, and a new episode every Monday despite any breaking news stories (unless they effect your immediate area), sports games, holidays, and boring presidential coverage. "Why Monday?", you might ask. Because I need something else to watch on Mondays, that's why.

I knew she was sorry. I knew what happened had hurt her. I knew that if I were to give her a way to fix things between us -no matter how extreme it might be- she would do it without the slightest bit of hesitation. And I knew that deep down inside I wanted things to magical go back to the way they were, before he had come back into the picture. Problem was: Christian's attack on Claire didn't just hurt her, it had hurt me as well.

The bond we shared for almost fifty years was one of the most precious things in the world to me. It was what kept us together no matter how hard things might have gotten, or how upset we got with one another. It made every moment spent with her more special. The pain of losing it, added with her betrayal was almost too much to bear. Having my bond with my mate broken for the second time pushed the pain over the edge.

I was well aware that what happened to Claire and what went on with Elizabeth, my sire, were completely different, but Claire's actions -although not purposely- had resulted in the loss of our bond, just like Elizabeth had caused the bond we had about one-hundred years ago to be severed.

Most people will never know the relationship between a vampire and his or her sire, especially when their bond is still intact. I was devoted to Elizabeth, though she had damned my soul for all eternity, stripped me of my family, and turned me into a predator. Still, to me, there was nothing she could do wrong. I trusted her judgment, followed every word she said, made sure that she knew I loved her with everything I had. And for those hundred odd years we had spent together, I never once doubted that she loved me just as much.

How was I to know that my love had stopped being enough for her? That her feelings toward me had changed.

It came completely out of the blue. I went out to hunt, Elizabeth wasn't thirsty so I left without her. Shortly after I left, my chest began to burn, my eyes dilated, and my fangs came out. I was use to my vampire side asserting itself during certain times, but my chest pain threw me off. I ran back to Elizabeth as fast as I could, hoping that she would have an answer and solution for the pain.

I was appalled at what I saw when I returned.

Elizabeth was lying on the floor with another male leaning over her, his fangs still buried in her neck. They both looked up at me when I came in, and gave me annoyed hisses, obviously not appreciative of my disturbance. It was then that I knew why I had the burning in my chest.

She had told me about the bond between two vampires. How it was initiated, and how it could be broken, how it could be replaced by another. She had failed to mention how one could detect if their bond was being broken. That I had to learn the hard way.

So when I woke up that night Christian attacked Claire, I knew that our bond was broken.

Looking at Claire was almost as painful as the burning in my chest. Not just because of my previous experience, but because of the pain I saw she was feeling, knowing she had hurt me. The reaction I had given her didn't help. Even with it, she still looked to me for some sort of reassurance as she told me that Christian said that was how I would react, and that she had told him he was wrong. I couldn't give her that reassurance, not as long as I still felt the pain.

I thought leaving Christian to burn would help. It did a little, but not as much as I had hoped. Ignoring Claire was causing her to hurt more, though there was no satisfaction in making her as miserable as I felt. Trying to hide being upset with Claire from Emily only made things more difficult, since we had to hide the fact that were no longer sleeping in the same room.

All I could do was replay both incidents in my mind. I went through them over a thousand times before I realized why my broken bond with Claire hurt more than it had with Elizabeth. I was using Claire to release the pain I had to bury with Elizabeth. Elizabeth didn't stay after our bond was broken. Claire had, making her the perfect target. I felt horrible for doing that to her. Getting Emily back helped solidify my decision to work things out.

That's why we're here, fifty years to the day from when I turned Claire, in the exact same motel room in London where I had done it, finally going to recreate our bond. I kissed her on the neck where I had first bitten her, and trailed kisses up her throat, skipping her chin to capture her lips with mine. Without breaking away, I lead her to the bed and gently laid her down. I draped myself over her, and broke our kiss to pull her hair away from her face and cup her cheek.

"I love you," I said with all the emotion I could put into the words.

"I love you, too" she replied, her hazel eyes showing how much she meant it.

I kissed her again, and slowly made my way back to her neck.

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